Lisa Suhair Majaj is a Palestinian-American writer living in Cyprus. This poem is from the most recent issue of On The Issues magazine.

No

There’s no poetry in it,
but I need to say something about No,
how it stands up, no matter how unpopular,
in the face of injustice. Maybe it can’t
thwart history: the powerful have always known
what they can do, and they do it.
No can’t stop an avalanche.
But No could be a retaining wall
built of rough stones wrested from the earth,
carried one by one up the hill on someone’s back.
No might be a tree in the middle of a village street:
traffic shifts to flow around it, its presence
a reminder of what used to be, what won’t be
forgotten. No is the perimeter of stubborn cactus
springing up around destroyed villages.
You can bulldoze houses, evict or kill the inhabitants,
but the thorns of memory can’t be eliminated.
No is steadfast. It knows what it’s like
to have nothing in its hands but dignity.

I feel all Majaj’s poems i read are sincere, profound & v. touching. I guess, her words just reflect her own personality. It’s shocking that i’ve known her work lately only. Her works made me interested again in the literary field. Her critical and academic essays are great treasures too. That’s why she was able to create her own space.